BOOK REVIEW: Cream: The Legendary Sixties Supergroup

In the pantheon of influential 1960s rock bands, Cream still loom large forty-six years after their split. Formed in 1966 by Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker, their career lasted a brief three years, but the studio albums and live work they left behind have continued to influence generations of musicians and fans. They were the first bonafide supergroup, bringing together three players who were considered to be the best at their respective instruments, and they showed that virtuosity could go hand in hand with high-quality, well-crafted pop songs, as well as providing a framework for dazzling onstage improvisations that were almost free-form jazz in nature. Cream were one of the first bands, after the Beatles, that I became obsessed with as a teenager, especially once I started playing guitar. Thus, I had been on the lookout for a definitive book on them for as long as I could remember.

In this book, veteran Melody Maker journalist Christ Welch, who interviewed Cream extensively during their heyday in the 1960s, has written a comprehensive overview of their career. Published in 2000, the book covers their entire 1960s career, as well as their 1993 reunion for their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. Welch draws upon his interviews with the three band members from 1966 to 1968, as well as more recent interviews with Bruce, Baker, former roadies Ben Palmer and Mick Turner, and others. Even with the lack of contemporary interview material from Clapton, Welch manages to make the story cohesive and comprehensive. I bought this book in 2000 when it was released and have read it many times, but for the purposes of this review I've read it again in order to have a fresher perspective on it.

Beginning with short biographies of each of the band members, the story of Cream's coming together in the summer of 1966 is traced through their various musical apprenticeships and the bands they were a part of leading up to their formation. By setting up the main story of Cream in this way, the reader is able to see how each member honed their skills and grew their reputation to the point that their forming Cream was indeed a big deal in 1966. From here, Welch tells the story of their career from the beginning, when he was present at their second-ever rehearsal at a school hall in London, to their first gig at a small club (the Twisted Wheel in Manchester) before their debut performance at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival. What's striking about the overall arc of Cream's career is how their management, which they constantly questioned at the time (and which they still cite as a source of problems to the present day) was short-sighted enough that the band were sent out to play a series of one-nighters at small clubs all over the UK and Europe, barely earning more than they did in the previous bands. This was despite the fact that they quickly built up a reputation and a large and devoted fanbase who clamored to see them. As Ginger said, "there were as many people outside the venue as there were inside...sometimes more!" However, it was when they made their way over to the USA that things really took off for the band; forced to play longer concerts and fill up the time they were allotted, they began stretching out and improvising onstage, creating a new genre of heavy rock, and blowing minds and earning devoted fans all across the country. As their popularity rose, so did their earning power and they ended up becoming one of the highest grossing concert acts of the still nascent 1960s rock scene. Somehow, while being worked literally to the brink of exhaustion by manager Robert Stigwood, they managed to cram in recording sessions when possible and produced three excellent albums: their 1966 debut Fresh Cream, and their two classic albums: 1967's Disraeli Gears and 1968's epic Wheels of Fire. However, by the time of their marathon US tour in the early part of 1968, the cracks that were had been present from the beginning (namely, the earlier issues/feuding between Bruce and Baker) and the grueling and punishing pace of the tour led the band to split at the height of their popularity. After wrapping up the year with two farewell concerts in London, by early 1969 and the release of their final album, Goodbye, Cream were no more. Apart from the 1993 reunion and the London and New York concerts they played in 2005 for an actual reunion, that's been it for the band.

In addition to the story of the band, there is a chapter in the middle of the book that features a more detailed look at each member of Cream, focusing on their talent and influence. Since each section is written by a fellow musician (including Dave Gregory, the superb guitarist from XTC who wrote the section on Clapton), it delves a bit more into the equipment and technical set-ups they each used. As a musician myself, I really enjoyed this but I can see where it might be more than what is necessary for a more casual or non-musician reader. There is also a detailed diary of Cream's entire career at the end of the book, listing in chronological order all of their recording sessions, concert, TV, and radio appearances, and record releases. These are punctuated by recent comments from Baker, Bruce, Palmer, and others who were there at the time. It's a nice section to have, especially for putting into perspective just how many concerts they played (around 275!) in their all-too-brief career. Finally, throughout the book there are some really nice photos, not only of the band, but of various tour posters, memorabilia, records and record sleeves, and more.

If I have a criticism of the book, it's that I feel that Chris Welch is a bit too close to the subject and thus writes with a slightly less than unbiased view. It is, of course, always nice to read a book written by a true fan of the subject, but the best of these authors will be able to detach themselves a bit and maintain a somewhat critical eye, realizing that not everything produced by the artist, no matter how talented they are, is worthy of praise. While Welch is by no means sycophantic or wholly laudatory of Cream, on the whole he is overwhelmingly positive about nearly everything, such that the few times he does offer any criticism, minor as it is, it ends up being a bit jarring.  In addition, the reliance on his 1960s interviews makes some sections of the book seem very "cut and paste." However, at the same time, the book raises several excellent points, ranging from how Stigwood used Cream and their unexpected success (and the financial rewards that came about as a result) to finance his true passion, the Bee Gees. Also, the obsession by Atlantic Records to record the band live throughout 1968 forced Clapton to change his gear and settings in order to accommodate the limitations of the recording equipment...as a result, the gorgeous, miles-long sustain and feedback he had throughout 1967 (listen below) was gone. As a result, while his playing was still otherworldly, his tone and attack changed slightly for the worse. The dispute over songwriting credits and publishing royalties, especially given what was agreed upon at the inception of the band, receives substantial discussion throughout the book, enhanced by extensive comments from Jack Bruce's songwriting partner Pete Brown. It is nuggets like these that elevate the book beyond a simple band biography and really shed additional light on the inner workings of the band, as well as the issues that brought about their eventual downfall.

Cream as they sounded best, in 1967, when Eric had sustain that would last you for days and they played with absolute abandon

While rather brief by the standards of many band biographies, coming in at just under 200 pages, this book is still well worth getting and reading for any fan of Cream, and despite its minor flaws, stands as the definitive book of their career. For more in depth looks at the individual members, I would direct the reader to hunt down copies of each of their autobiographies (which I've linked to in the first paragraph of this review). But if you want the most detailed story of Cream as a band, this book is where you'll find it.

MY RATING: 7.5/10

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BOOK REVIEW: Jack Bruce: Composing Himself

As one-third of the 1960s band Cream, Jack Bruce is a legend. He was the lead vocalist, bass player, and main songwriter for the band and if he had never done anything before or after those glorious years of 1966-1969 when Cream were active, he'd still be revered as one of the greatest bassists and singers in the history of rock music. But there was, is, and continues to be so much more to Jack Bruce than the classic music he made with bandmates Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker. Jack's life and career are the story of a supremely talented and visionary musician, always restless and pushing forward, never quite achieving the commercial success he's deserved outside of Cream. Yet he continues to be critically acclaimed and recognized for his mammoth contributions to musical genres as diverse as rock, jazz, blues, classical, and Latin. This review, following my reviews of Eric's and Ginger's books, completes the trilogy of autobiographies of the members of Cream; in many ways, Jack's is the most interesting of all of their stories.

Author Harry Shapiro is a big Jack Bruce fan and was able to enlist the cooperation of Jack himself in order to write this authorized biography. Using his own research, as well as numerous interviews and recollections directly from Jack, Shapiro traces Bruce's story from his humble origins in Scotland all the way to the present day, recounting all of the highs and lows along the way.  Born during the middle of WWII Britain and raised in a working-class family in Glasgow by his staunchly communist parents, Jack and his brother were not expected to transcend their class much as they grew up. However, from an early age it became apparent that young Jack was quite gifted musically, first as a singer and then as a musician. Able to play piano and compose classical pieces by the age of twelve, he was able to get into prestigious music academies in Glasgow and took up the cello and double bass. Soon, his ear was bent by the nascent sounds of the jazz, blues, and rock and roll that were seeping into 1950s Britain and Jack had found his life's calling. Moving on to London by the early 1960s, Bruce began earning a living as a musician, earning more in a week than his father did in a month. Through a variety of groups, he eventually came to join forces with his eventual lifelong nemesis Ginger Baker, as well as Dick Heckstall-Smith and Graham Bond as members of Alexis Korner's Blues Inc. Splitting off to form the Graham Bond Organization, it was in this band (with guitarist John McLaughlin as an early member) that Jack first rose to national prominence in the UK. It's also here where he endless feud with Baker began. After being sacked from the group by Ginger, Jack crossed paths briefly with Eric Clapton in the Bluesbreakers before he moved on to a stint in Manfred Mann. In mid-1966, he was recruited by Eric Clapton into a new band he was forming with Baker that of course became Cream. I won't get into the demise of the band as it's been discussed to death by me (elsewhere on this site) and others, but it is after the end of Cream in early 1969 that Jack's story gets really interesting. When Cream broke up, it was Bruce, not Clapton, who was expected to have the most successful career since he was the voice and writer for the bulk of Cream's music. However, nothing ever goes as planned and the ensuing years have taken Jack on an interesting musical and personal journey that continues to the present day.

As Shapiro states in his introduction, when he told a friend he was setting out to write a book on Jack Bruce, his friend replied that it would be "a short book," assuming there was nothing of value to write post-Cream. However, he does an excellent job using the remainder of the book to chronicle Jack's long and varied solo career, beginning with his excellent 1969 solo debut album, Songs For a Tailor. Shapiro is clearly a fan and does an admirable job weaving all of Jack's various albums, bands, and side projects into the story. The discussions of each album and the key songs are fleshed out by the words of Bruce, as well as his longtime songwriting partner Pete Brown and the various musicians he worked with over the years.  Nearly all of them have nothing but praise for Jack as a person and a musician (apart, obviously, for Ginger Baker). In return, Jack was also complimentary...the only blemish in this regard was his involvement in the ill-conceived and ill-fated supergroup West, Bruce, and Laing in the mid-1970s. Taking the place of his friend (and former Cream producer) Felix Pappalardi in Mountain, the newly christened band was more of a way for the three to make mountains of cash in order to feed their raging heroin (and in the case of West, food) addictions. Jack himself is honest about his reasons for doing it, stating matter of factly that he agreed to it because he needed the money and wanted a quick way to get back in the public eye. This section of the book absolutely trashes the project (not undeservedly), with all of those involved contributing.

Emerging from his heroin habit in the mid-1980s with a new wife, more children, all the while still producing several quality albums and tours, life eventually caught up with Jack in the late 1990s when he developed liver cancer from his years of heavy drinking. The description of his liver transplant in 2003 and the fact that he barely survived it was quite harrowing...I knew his health had been poor and remember hearing about his ordeal at the time, but I had no idea how close he truly was to death. He was quite literally 24 hours from life-support being removed before he made a miraculous recovery. Using Cream's upcoming 2005 reunion as his inspiration, Jack got better and was again in the worldwide spotlight with the success of the shows in London and New York alongside his old bandmates. The book wraps up Jack's story around 2010, showing a man who is still driven to evolve and move his music forward, but finally content in family life and his sobriety.

 Some of Jack's best singing and playing (as well as Cream on top of their game)

Harry Shapiro writes with good flow and has an engaging style that makes for an enjoyable read. His obvious affection for Jack's music comes through loud and clear, which is a good thing although it does seem, after a while, that he hardly ever criticizes anything that Jack has done (at least musically).  While I agree that Bruce has an impressive body of work, it began to grate slightly on me how the author praised literally, every single thing (apart from West, Bruce, and Laing) Jack ever worked on; at times, he seemed to be trying almost too hard to defend some of the weaker albums. Other than this, however, I can't really fault the book too much. Shapiro and Bruce were quite frank and candid when it came to discussing Jack's drug problems in the 1970s and early 1980s, his near-death experience due to his liver transplant, and his divorce from first wife Janet and subsequent marriage to his current wife Margrit.  Lastly, it shed some more light on his feud with Baker, which has persisted from the early 1960s to the present day. While Ginger, in his book, portrays himself as an easy-going guy who was the victim of Jack's temper, and Eric describes them both as part of the problem in his book, Jack is more sanguine; he readily admits he has a temper (which was worse in his younger days) and that he's a strong-willed individual. He knows he and Ginger rubbed each other the wrong way. At the same time, it seems Jack has tried to mend fences and soften his approach in later years, while Ginger seems to have gone the other way and hardened his stance. The paradox in all of this is that both admit that the other is the perfect compliment to them in terms of musical rhythm section partner...the fact that they've played together in several bands (in addition to the Cream reunion) over the past forty years attests to this. Finally, the admission by Jack (and others) that he's always looked up to Ginger, from their first meeting as young men, was quite touching and a brave thing to admit to.

Jack Bruce is a titan of modern music who has flown under the commercial radar for most of his post-Cream career while continuing to write, record, and perform challenging, excellent, and critically acclaimed music. The sheer breadth of his talent and personality are staggering, and Composing Himself tells his story in a manner befitting the man and his talents.

MY RATING: 8.5/10

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Family Records: A Vinyl History Tour of My Youth (Part 2 of 2)

Carrying on, here's Part 2 of a trip down memory lane as I go through the records my parents had that I grew up listening to and absorbing. I got a fantastic response to Part 1 and it was great to open up conversations with friends and fellow music fans on various message boards and social networks as they shared their own memories. Some of them were the same age as me, some are my parents' age, some are older...many enjoyed the same records, many enjoyed completely different artists and genres, but one thing that seemed to be common amongst all of us was the powerful and joyful impact that music had, captivating us as children and developing into a lifelong passion that never waned, but instead intensified and grew as we all continue to get older. I was struck by how much commonality we all had with the simple question I posed, "which records did you grow up listening to?" For me, as fun as it was to take my own trip into the past, it was just as enjoyable to read everyone else's memories and engage in the discussion (if you'd like to read it, here's the main thread).

So here is Part 2!

THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND

One of my favorite bands ever. My dad is a huge fan and that definitely rubbed off on me. Duane Allman and Dickey Betts were and continue to be huge influences on my guitar playing and several of the cuts on these albums were among my favorites to suss out when I was learning to play. Later on, he (and later on, I) would have all of their classic albums on cassette and later on, CD, but when I was growing up it was just these two records. Luckily, they're two of the best.

At Fillmore East (released 1971)

There's not much that can be said about this album that hasn't already been written countless times before. It is one of the greatest live albums and finds the original band at the height of their powers...sadly, they wouldn't make it to the end of the year intact, losing founding brother and spiritual leader Duane Allman in a motorcycle crash late in '71. This is one of those albums that has been played so many times by both my dad and me that it's a wonder the records haven't split from overuse! One of my bibles for learning how to play guitar, and I always loved those smoky pictures of the band onstage in the gatefold, bathed in red light and looking so cool.

Brothers and Sisters (released 1973)

Probably their biggest album, commercially, and the first after Berry Oakley died only a year (almost to the day) after Duane did, in 1972 (although Berry appears on a few songs here). I remember hearing "Ramblin' Man" and "Jessica" from this album on the radio a lot as a kid, and one of the bands that used to play at my high school used to jam on "Southbound." I always liked to spend some time as a kid trying to pick out the band members on the inner gatefold, and the insert with the dedication to Berry always struck me as a nice touch.

CREAM

Eric Clapton was, amongst all of my guitar heroes, the one who captivated me with his technique and tone just a little bit more than anyone else when I was a budding guitarist, while the sound Cream got with all three of them masters of their instruments, improvising over the loose framework of their songs just blew me away.  I remember hearing these albums (as well as their Wheels of Fire and Disraeli Gears albums on cassette) in my dad's office when he'd be listening to them and soon enough, I was listening to them on my own as well.

Fresh Cream (released 1966)

The debut album and a great (and underrated) slice of electric British blues. I remember having a hard time reconciling the fact that Eric on the front cover was the same guy I was hearing play all this cheesy radio stuff when I was a kid in the 1980s and 90s. Quite a few of these songs ended up being tried out in the bands I started playing in as a high schooler (ie "I'm So Glad," "Spoonful," etc).

Goodbye (released 1969)

Their final album and one of my favorites. I remember thinking the front and back covers were neat with the band in those silver suits with top hats and canes.  The inner gatefold was simultaneously ominous (and final) with all of those tombstones, yet bright and eye-popping with all of those colors. Musically, I did (and still do) love the juxtaposition of the three high-octane live cuts with the three strange and unique studio cuts.

Best of Cream (released 1969)

The first post-split compilation album. I've never understood what the vegetables had to do with Cream, but it's still an interesting album cover. I always liked the back photo with the band looking menacing at the height of their psychedelic look: long hair, mustaches, and Eric's necklace made out of what look to be tiger's teeth...not to mention that amazing wallpaper! This was a great album because it had some cuts that were on the UK version of Fresh Cream and hadn't been released in the US to that point.

CROSBY, STILLS, NASH, and YOUNG (and their assorted projects)

Even though I tend to favor much of the heavier rock from the 1960s and 70s, I also have a HUGE soft spot for gorgeous melodies, vocal harmonies, and well written and played songs. Since my parents did also, I've always loved CSNY and their pre-CSNY projects. My tastes when it comes to them tend to stop around 1974 but I love everything up to and including that year. As an avid singer, some of my favorite moments, now and then, involve singing along to these songs and trying a different harmony part each time.

The Byrds Greatest Hits (released 1967) and Retrospective: The Best of Buffalo Springfield (released 1969)

I'm a huge Byrds fan, loving everything they did up to 1968 before they went full-blown country, which I don't care for. This greatest hits album collected everything up to what I consider to be their best album, 1967's Younger Than Yesterday (although the following album, 1968's The Notorious Byrd Brothers, is excellent as well). I always loved their jangly sound and the way they mixed the folk, rock, and pop elements with nice harmonies into a really unique sound. As for Buffalo Springfield, I was always fascinated by the dichotomy between Young and Stills in the band...both wrote great songs (Young's "Mr Soul" and "Rock and Roll Woman," Stills' "Bluebird" and "For What It's Worth," for example) that sounded like their writers, but still had the overall band sound.

Everybody Knows This is Nowhere (released 1969)

What a great album. Apart from a couple of weak songs, everything on this album is a classic and songs like "Cinnamon Girl" (that riff!), "Down By the River," and "Cowgirl in the Sand" blew me away as a teenager and were three songs we definitely played a lot when I was in bands.

Crosby, Stills, and Nash (released 1969)

Now we get to when they all got together! For years, I always thought that the guy looking out the screen door on the back cover (not pictured) was Neil Young (it's not...it's their drummer Dallas Taylor). This album is just gorgeous and has some of my all-time favorite songs on it, like "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," "Wooden Ships," "Pre-Road Downs"...honestly, I don't think there's a bad track on here. The furry coats they're wearing in the gatefold picture always looked funny to me, but it's cool that it still has the fold-out lyric sheet with those quintessentially 1960s drawings on it.

Deja Vu (released 1970)

With Neil Young brought into the fold now, they release what I think is their best album. It features songs by all four of them and I'm not sure you can have a better opening track than "Carry On." The transition from the chugging acoustic to that grooving electric bit in the second half, all with fantastic vocal harmonies, is spine tingling even to this day. I always liked the photos inside this one, too, and I remember thinking it was pretty cool that Jerry Garcia and John Sebastian not only guested on a couple of tracks, but were pictured in the inner collage.

4-Way Street (released 1971)

A mammoth double live album that showcases both the acoustic singer/songwriter side and the full-band electric side of CSNY. Just great stuff on this one and I spent many hours as a teenager cruising around listening to this one once I got it on CD. Dad's vinyl copy still has the original lyric sheet.

DAVID BOWIE

I love Bowie, always have. I remember hearing loads of his tunes on the radio but, strangely enough, this was the only record of his I remember listening to as a kid!

Aladdin Sane (released 1973)

A bonafide classic and one of my favorite Bowie albums. Here, he's toughened up and dirtied the glam rock from the Ziggy days and released a really cohesive collection of songs. "Panic in Detroit," "The Jean Genie," "Cracked Actor," and "Watch That Man" were favorites as a kid. Later on, I realized that apart from his decent Stones cover ("Let's Spend the Night Together"), the entire album was great. The cover always weirded me out when I was younger, but the inner sleeve with the lightning bolt from his face emblazoned across it is a neat touch.

THE DOORS

The Doors (released 1967)

Again, I'm a big Doors fan, they were a band I remember hearing on the radio all of the time as a kid, but this was the only record of theirs I remember spinning as a kid.  The long organ and guitar solo in "Light My Fire" always mesmerized me and tunes like "Soul Kitchen," "20th Century Fox," "The Crystal Ship," and "The End" were pure psychedelia and really atmospheric pieces for a kid who grew up twenty years too late to have experienced it the first time around.

AEROSMITH

Aerosmith are huge here in New England since they're native sons, hailing from Boston (and in fact, a few of them grew up in my native New Hampshire). I've never held them in as high regard as a lot of people do, but their first three albums are excellent and I've always liked them. When I was growing up, I couldn't believe the same guys who kicked ass on these records were the ones peddling slick, lame AOR hit singles in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  Some of the riffs on these records are fantastic ("Walk This Way," anyone?) and I have all of these now on CD.

Aerosmith (released 1973), Get Your Wings (released 1974), Toys in the Attic (released 1975)

SIMON AND GARFUNKEL

I liked some of their songs from the radio but wasn't terribly into them. However, one of my childhood friends REALLY got into them when we hit high school, so I had a look through my folks' collection after he turned me on to them and found these albums. I remember really liking a lot of the lesser-known tracks and I still enjoy many of these songs.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme (released 1966), Sounds of Silence (released 1966), Greatest Hits (released 1972)

JANIS JOPLIN

Joplin In Concert (released 1972)

What a voice! Again, always heard the songs on the radio but this was the only album my parents had on vinyl. Luckily, it's a blistering document of Joplin with three different incarnations of her band. The heavy and psychedelic sound of Big Brother and the Holding Company gives way to her jazzier Kozmic Blues Band before finishing up with the funkier Full Tilt Boogie Band she was using when she died.

BILLY JOEL

I consider Billy Joel a guilty pleasure of mine, although I don't really know why since he's got loads of huge songs and albums and is well-regarded in the music world. Maybe it's just because he doesn't jibe with the rest of what I listen to, so I feel like people are surprised when I reveal I'm a huge fan. I remember hearing tons of these songs on the radio as a kid, especially in the car with my mum since she's a big fan. Once I found out we had these records, I listened to them all the time. The Stranger (released 1977) is his greatest album, I think...it's certainly my favorite. 52nd Street (released 1978) is nearly as great. Later on in high school when my best friend revealed he was a huge fan, too, we shared a love for all of Billy's albums on CD, but these two were where I first started. I do have to say, also, that I vastly preferred his 70s sound to what he was putting out during my school years (ie Storm Front and River of Dreams, event though eventually I realized those were pretty good albums, too).

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE

The Worst of Jefferson Airplane (released 1970)

Another band that I really like, but mainly their singles I'd heard on the radio. Still a great collection of their best tunes on this album, and as a kid I always got a kick out of how they called their greatest hits album the "worst."

PAUL McCARTNEY

Obviously, as a huge Beatles fan, I also like their solo work, none more so than Paul's. This was the only record of his we had, Pipes of Peace (released 1983). It's not one of his best albums but there are a few decent tracks on it. I do remember wondering why it wasn't as good as his Beatles stuff and the Wings stuff I always heard on the radio!

GENESIS

A Trick of the Tail (released 1976)

I didn't become a fan of old school Genesis until later in life (in my 20s) because all I knew of them from a kid were the slick AOR songs they played on the radio in the 1980s. My mum was a huge fan of them and Phil Collins' stuff then as well, so I never got into this record until my dad played me the title track and I realized this was very different from what they later became. It's now one of my favorite albums of theirs. The artwork looks great, much better on a full-sized album than on the CD I now have.

PETER FRAMPTON

I always liked Frampton and I remember my dad had a copy of Frampton Comes Alive! that I used to hear him playing a lot (I couldn't find it when I was putting this piece together...I'll have to ask him where it is). This was one of Peter's albums that came before it, Wind of Change (released in 1972). I liked this record, especially "All I Want to Be (Is By Your Side)," but I didn't really appreciate it (or the rest of his solo stuff) until I got older and realized how great a guitarist and writer he was.

That wraps up my journey back in time to when I was a kid learning all about music and soaking it all in, figuring out what I liked and, later on, how I could incorporate it into my own musical style. I hope you've all enjoyed it and that it's inspired take some time to look back on where you came from in terms of music and it's importance in your life. At the very least, I hope it inspires you to dig through your records and see what gems you may have forgotten about!

As always, please feel free to comment or share your own memories in the comments section below!

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BOOK REVIEW: Eric Clapton: The Autobiography

When I started teaching myself how to play guitar when I was ten years old, my teachers (apart from a handful of lessons I took at the local music shop) were the records I listened to from my parents' collection. Stuff I'd grown up listening to, like the Beatles, Who, Allman Brothers, and more were my gateway into learning how to play, sing, and later on, write songs. Armed with a chord book and these records (or the cassette copies I made of them so I could listen on my Walkman), I spent hours strumming along and figuring out how to play what I was hearing. Of all of the great guitar players I learned from in this manner, like Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, George Harrison, Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Jimi Hendrix, and more, there was one who captivated me like no other. He was the first one who's style, tone, and touch I became obsessed with; it was Eric Clapton. Between his work in the Yardbirds, Bluesbreakers, Blind Faith, and especially Cream and Derek and the Dominos (of which the last two blew my mind), I couldn't get enough of his playing. However, for all the fiery intensity and attack of his playing then, I couldn't reconcile that he was the same person I was then hearing on contemporary radio in the 1980s and 90s playing this softer rock stuff. Combined with the fact that he was a private person who was hard to get much info on, there was always a striking dichotomy, in my mind, between EC pre-1973 and EC-post 1973. Everything I was able to learn about him was from various music magazines and books I was able to track down over the years (at least in the pre-Internet era). Thankfully, after finally reading his book and getting the story from the man himself, I understand why this is. 

When this book came out in the late 2000s, I was really excited about it, but for some inexplicable reason I never got around to reading it until now. I'm glad I did. Going in to the book, I was told by many fellow fans that it was one of those books where, if you liked the musician a lot before you read it, afterward you would be disgusted. I'm happy to say that that is certainly not the case, and I'm still scratching my head as to why so many people have thought that.

The book starts off, naturally, with Eric discussing his childhood and his years growing up in Ripley, Surrey. From a pretty early age, he was able to glean that there were some secrets being kept in his family and eventually, he discovered that who he thought were his parents were really his grandparents and that his "sister" was in actuality his mother, while his "brother" was his uncle. This caused him to become quite withdrawn and emotionally confused, traits that carried over into his adulthood. Eric moves rather quickly through his teen years and all of the fun he had before he eventually began a short stint as an art student at Kingston College of Art and became involved with playing the guitar and the beatnik/folk music scene in and around London. Eventually, he discovered the blues, which would become his lifelong passion. Finding his way through various semi-serious groups, he eventually joined the Yardbirds in 1963, drawn by their raw blue and R&B sound as a response to his own aversion to the pop sound that was then exploding via the Beatles. However, their push to a more commercial pop sound by 1965 led Eric, as a rather pretentious purist even at such a young age (something he acknowledges himself) to quit and join John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. It was during his tenure in this band that the "Clapton is God" graffiti began appearing around London, as his overdriven tone and revolutionary approach to playing electric blues (not to mention his exquisite technique) totally changed how rock guitar could and would be played. Again, his restless spirit led him to take a sabbatical and travel Europe, eventually ending up gigging in Greece, with a ragtag bunch of musician friends labelling themselves The Glands. After a short stint back in Mayall's band (where he would first play with Jack Bruce), he and Ginger Baker decided to form a new band, and brought Bruce on board to form what was, of course, Cream in 1966. This is where Clapton's biggest fame came from and the combustible mix of the music, the live performances, and the personalty clashes between Bruce and Baker are all discussed in detail elsewhere, including Ginger's book that I recently reviewed, as well as Bruce's book (which I will review in the near future). As would become a pattern in his life, Eric grew bored with Cream after a year or so but lacked the forceful personality to do anything other than hang on for the ride until it reached a breaking point. Moving on from the break-up of Cream to the ill-fated Blind Faith in 1969, Eric then moved on to what I believe was his last great work, the band Derek and the Dominos in 1970. Again, the history of this band has been fleshed out a bit more in Bobby Whitlock's excellent book (my review here), and my first criticism of Eric's book is that he seems to only skim the surface of his time in these seminal bands which arguably were the years that gave him the fame and name recognition he has sustained to the present day. I can understand him not wanting to get into all of the underlying drama...that's his call whether or not to delve into that. But he skips over even fairly well known events and spends more time criticizing the music he was playing in Cream and especially Blind Faith. There was also very little said about Duane Allman's contributions to the Layla sessions, other than that he loved Duane as a person and a musician and the band wasn't as good when they went on the road without him. A bit more enlightening were his memories of his friendship with Jimi Hendrix, which were really nice to read and shed a bit more light on the mutual admiration society they had. Likewise with his various mentions of his lifelong friend George Harrison and the complex relationship they had, as well as his experience playing on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" from the White Album, which is one of the finest solos of his career.

However, he did spend a lot of time from this point through almost the entire remainder of the book discussing his addictions, first to heroin (which he curbed by the mid-1970s) and his much more crippling alcoholism, which consumed his life for nearly twenty years. Strangely enough, I found this stretch of the book the most compelling, even though it coincides with my least favorite phase of his musical career. This was mainly because he was quite candid and self-reflective at his abhorrent behavior, not to mention that the amount of booze and cocaine he was putting away at the time beggars belief. Various dalliances with women, even after he finally won Pattie Boyd away from George Harrison, playing gigs where he could barely stand up, and ending up in hospital with massive life-threatening ulcers caused by his drinking weren't enough to get him to go to rehab until he had a son with his mistress in the mid-1980s. This son was, of course, Conor, who tragically died in the early 1990s after falling out of a window in New York City. Eric poured his grief out into the huge hit single "Tears in Heaven" and was able to somehow keep it together and remain sober through this trying time although the emotional detachment at the time, which he describes as a coping mechanism, still seemed a bit cold to me. The remainder of the book is quite uplifting and finds Eric finally coming to terms with almost everything in his life, both emotionally and musically. He married his wife Melia in 2001, he has four daughters (one from a previous affair in Montserrat), a great career, and has been sober for over twenty years. More than that, he found spirituality again in the depths of his despair as an alcoholic and has maintained this presence throughout his sobriety. He's also channeled much effort, time, and money to his Crossroads Centre treatment clinic in Antigua in order to give back and help others with substance abuse problems. I couldn't help but feel happy for him after finishing the book.

If you've never heard this, it's one of the greatest live concerts of all time with some of Clapton's most incredible guitar work

As I touched on above, Eric unfortunately gives short shrift to some important events in his life, another being the Cream reunion in 2005. In this case, I wanted to know what it was about the span of time between the London shows in May and the New York shows in October that caused the reunion to sour...we all know something happened as it's been alluded to and hinted at by all three of them in the ensuing years, but what exactly it is has never been disclosed. He also shied away from a topic I was keen to learn more about from his own words, which was his infamous drunken and racist rant onstage at a late 1970s concert. He barely touched on it, only saying that he was "accused of being racist" after saying something onstage which was provoked by someone of non-British extraction making a lewd comment toward Pattie. While I don't think Eric is racist, I would have really liked to have listened to his side of the event.  On the other hand, Eric was very open about his family, not shying away from either the problems or the love and affection he has for all of them. The overall theme of the book seems to be his personal journey and quest for his total identity beyond just that of a "guitar hero," and this underpinning thread running throughout the book is one of the major contributors to it being as enjoyable as it was. As for the things contained within that many claimed would turn any fan of Eric's off from him after reading the book, I don't understand what they were talking about. Yes, he did a LOT of drugs and drank a LOT of alcohol, and he was less than faithful (if I'm being charitable about how I put it) during his marriage to Pattie, as well as before he married his current wife, but I didn't read anything that was any worse than what I've read about many other musicians, and in fact I've read worse than what Eric presented.  The book was written in a very honest and emotional manner, and when Eric describes things that embarrassed, excited, saddened, or scared him, it really comes across as being from the heart. Again, many have criticized his style as "bland" and "lacking personality" but I didn't think this at all. Knowing what I know about the man and how private he is, I felt he conveyed everything in a completely appropriate and fitting manner.

The lack of detail into some major events notwithstanding, Clapton's autobiography is a great book and one that I'm sure to read again. As someone who has been in love with his playing for almost my entire life, to finally learn more about his journey from the man himself is a real treat and gives me a greater appreciation of all of the pain, suffering, joy, and elation that has gone into his music and has come across in his playing for so long.

MY RATING: 9/10

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